Indian art practice underwent a remarkable
transformation from the 1870s onwards. Several
factors contributed to this shift. One was a
swing in public taste, which veered towards
naturalism following increased exposure to
European aesthetics. The founding of British art
schools in India greatly accelerated this
process.
Begun in mid-19th century with the aim of
training craftsmen, art schools found themselves
increasingly admitting students from more
educated and more well to do backgrounds. They
focused their attention towards fine arts rather
than the industrial arts that the British rulers
wanted Indians to learn. And they ingested the
lessons of perpetual – representation of the
object as they appear- leading to a naturalistic
mode rather than conceptual art of Indian
tradition, where an idea, or an idea is sought
to be represented. Academic expression of
realism is sought to be represented. Academic
expressions of realism became the new mantra for
a whole generation of artists trained in the art
schools of Bombay and Calcutta. These artists
were not only trained in naturalistic
representation of figures and objects, but also
in the skillful use of a relatively new medium –
oil.
Around this time, even as the earliest students
of academic art like Pastonji Bomanjee were
undergoing training at Sir JJ School of Art in
the 1860s, a phenomenal artist was emerging in
the south, in distant Trivandrum. Raja Ravi
Varma was born to an aristocratic family related
to the rulers of the Travancore state. The other
prominent academic realists are Manchershaw
Pithawalla, Antonio Xavier Trindade, Mahadev
Vishvanath Dhurandhar, Sawalaram Laxman
Haldankar, Jamini Prokash Gangooly and
Hemendranath Majumdar.
Bomanjee, P
At Rest, Oil on cardboard, 30.5X20.5 cm
Bomanjee, P
Head of a Punjabi Woman, Oil on board, 22.8X31.8 cm
Trinidade, A X
Girl with a Vase, Oil, 79.5X102 cm
Trinidade, A X
Pan Patti Shop, Oil, 26.5X36.5 cm
Gangooly, J P
Visakhapatnam Beach, Oil on canvas, 49X39 cm
Pithawalla, M F
Girl playing near Fire, Oil on canvas, 54.5X68 cm
Pithawalla, M F
Picture of a Lady, Oil on canvas, 43.2X53.5 cm
Majumdar, H
Toilet, Water olour on paper, 42X52 cm
Majumdar, H
Untitled, Water colour and tempera, 63.5X117 cm
Dhurandhar, M V
Pilgrimage to Pandharpur and Woman, Watercolour, 13.5X17.5 cm
Dhurandhar, M V
Pilgrimage to Pandharpur and Woman, Watercolour, 13.5X17.5 cm
Varma, Raja R
Women holding a Fruit, Oil on canvas, 45X60 cms
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